I absolutely love babyboo’s or similar dress structures but they’re catered to mainly tall ladies and I’m 5’2. I really want good quality dresses but can’t seem to find a nice tailor that is not crinkly satin cheap looking on social media. Please help me out 🥹 budget is not an issue.
If you're reading this, congratulations - consider yourself fairly warned. I am in the midst of leaving this industry after 10+ years of hoping that things will change, but f*** this bullshit, its an industry doomed for failure.
Below is the latest understanding of the audit industry (both general and financial services), consider this also updates for Big4 alumnis. To non-audit friends, this is what we do and what we are subject to.
1. OVERTIME
The number one thing you hear about this industry. So maybe your concept of overtime is 8am to 9pm? We work till 3/4am here, restart again at 8/9am the next day, Mondays till Saturdays, sometimes Sunday too. Go figure, 18 - 20 hours a day, 6 - 7 days a week. If you think OT is pushing 80 hour work weeks, maybe adjust that number to 100 for a fairer comparison. 8 hours of sleep is a myth in this industry. F*** health.
There is NO off-peak. Dec YE clients file their statements by June, and some clients end up extending to file by Aug. By then, even if you're no longer engaged with a Dec YE client, there are still Mar YE, Jun YE, Sep YE. Most of us have 'peak' all year round.
Hence, no family time, a lot of us are single (and not available cos we at work - so we remain single), and most times PH are a "good opportunity" to catch up on work. Annual Leave - Junior staff mostly get to enjoy it, but if you're team lead/manager and above, you're auto-assumed to respond no matter what/where/what time zone it be, even if you're on leave. Found out the hard way its not easy to open a laptop while on a husky sled in Norway.
Anniversaries/birthday or even "chill dinner plans"? Forget it, and sometimes you'll auto forget too. Any relationship (family, friends, loved ones) you're in will suffer while you're employed here. Soon, you'll just end up trauma bonding with fellow colleagues, of whom you'll only come to realise "aren't so good friends actually" after leaving.
Year-end shutdown? If you're one of the 'lucky ones', you get to work on 31 Dec, then get a cab at 11.55pm and catch fireworks from the taxi window while making your way home.
2. "We increased base pay"
Kindly see as approximated (SGD):
A1 - 4.1k
A2 - 4.4k
S1 - 5.0k
S2 - 5.5k
S3/AM/TL - 6.2k
M1 - 6.9k
M2 - 7.8k
M3 - 8.6k
SM - 9.5k (only SM2 can "smell" 5 digits)
Edit 1: No longer a year-by-year ladder. See #4.
Edit 2: SM ranges from SM1 till SM♾️, a whole bunch is stuck here. Thereafter its Director > Partner. (Even then there are ranks in-between and compensation differs.)
Be it yellow, blue, red, green, they approximate +/- 100 - 200 within range of one another.
No matter what is promised:
"Oh we pay higher" - 50 - 100 more not gonna make a difference...
"With CA we pay 10% more" - the 10% is subsumed into yearly increments so its more like 5% more at most...? (Which "disappears" after a few years.)
High performers get between 100 - 200 more than their peers, but is it really worth it for increased therapy expense?
If you read #1 again and do some benchmarking, hourly pay at lower ranks basically loses out to McDonalds' aunties.
3. Shit bonus and no AWS
The average bonus is at best a 1 - 1.5 month but usually approximates closer to 1 month. High perfomers get 2 - 2.5 months, but is it really worth it?
Yes there is NO AWS, no additional allowance or benefits either.
Edit: Associates DO NOT get bonus.
4. Promotion/progression/yearly increment
No longer a "guarantee" if you "don't screw up".
Not even promotion is tough, even progression is questionable.
Using Big4 as a "stepping stone"? Not going to be feasible when you cannot make it from A1 to A2, or A2 to S1. The ladder above? Its no longer a year-on-year move.
Worse off, sometimes you think you make it but it just takes one rogue partner to input some insane comment to drop your rating or hold your progression/promotion - as long as "results" not yet released.
While #2 indicates up to SM, going beyond that is quite insanely tough, and progressing upwards really is a "peoples" game rather than based on merit, some SMs are just hung out to dry. (Of course thats "not wrong" from business perspective - but do you not feel "wronged"...?)
5. Offshore work
All Big4 practice this.
We offload work to offshore team members.
The work quality? F***ing shit.
Who deals with it? YOU.
Reward/credit? None.
Means you not only pick up the issue, most times you do the work yourself too.
Being human, we did speak to some of them before - apparently working with SG is also considered shit and their "SG service team" turnover is high too... Which also means some big4 take up the same offshore service model in alternate countries - with EVEN WORSE STANDARDS than what was delivered before... Go figure.
6. What is AI??
Every big4 is investing in it.
On the ground, we hear about it all the time.
ALL teams are forced to use it.
AI is useless when clients do not wish to participate, when nature of business just doesn't bend, and contracts-older-than-you cannot be read by tech tools. We waste a HUGE part of time convincing higher-ups that this is not feasible before they gaslight us into thinking its us who are useless - THEN we finally commence the audit.
Those considering "tech fields" in big4, we run mainly on excel spreadsheets and word doc here. Any app you use here has to be pre-approved and even that process is a bitch. Even when you can actually use any data extraction/analysis tool, you will be asked to extract it into excel to work on further.
Many softwares are internally devloped and outsourced ones are buggy/laggy at best. The frustration of using these "tech-enabled apps" sometimes outweigh any quality of life they boast of. Most times you just wonder "WHY...?" and "Who came up with this...?", and at the same time you STILL have to update excel trackers (note the plural) for partners to review...
7. Lousy "exit" opportunities
While some HR headhunters are aware of the shit that we go through and our scope of work, majority still remain ignorant of what "auditors" do for a living. We are thought to "just check the numbers", but in actuality we cover everything from accounting, to tax, to transfer pricing, to financial compliance, etc etc - everything in a company that has a number to it, we check.
On a daily basis, we deal with:
- finance managers/controllers who have no grasp of FRS/accounting standards (some of these are listco CFOs).
- local finance team who decentralise decision-making to global HQ, so SG is just passing double entry, and the amount of red tapes you have to struggle with to get "audit comfort" is borderline retarded.
- drafting the actual financial statements because no one knows how to do it, and no one actually reads it. (There is a higher probability of getting hit my lightning than encountering a client who can draft a 100% correct FS)
Most headhunters warn you that a paycut is expected on industry exit. So here you are, advising local/regional CFOs/CEOs earning tens of thousands how to fix their finances, DOING THEIR JOB, and then you "deserve" a paycut when leaving the industry? Please help make it make sense.
8. Public Accountant papers
Not useful unless you signing FS or joining MNC companies.
Then again, between working 100 hours per week and having some semblance of personal life - do you really have time for this?
Look at who helms these papers - audit partners, industry leaders, etc. These are just a mlm/pyramid scheme to keep you trapped in this industry. You need 2 - 3 years of actual experience to take the capstone paper? If this is not an invisible "bond" without actual terms and conditions (forcing you to stay in the industry), I don't know what else is. (Did I mention all mid-tiers have actual unpaid employment/laptop bonds?)
9. The culture
If after reading all those above you're still die die convinced of this industry? Wait till you hear the culture.
You're going to be subject to being "gaslit" for not being resilient, made to think you need to be smarter and more efficient when the workload is just purely insane.
Following prior year work? Some prior year papers don't even make sense yet somehow passed the audit. Then apparently following these "wrong" working papers don't work and then somehow you're the one who has to fix it from scratch this year.
Revising the work? You need to be damn sure you know what you're doing, and then there is also no reward for making it more efficient other than you patting yourself on the back for "job well done".
Initial audit? Good luck with the "excellent learning opportunity".
On the same topic of culture, planners and portfolio managers are another whole ball game. There are politics everywhere you go, partners/planners who pick their 'favourite' managers/staff and the rest are just left to work it out on their own. At year-end appraisal - suddenly you're the one at fault for having "not enough exposure" on your assignments.
Still on the note of culture, partners within the firm have lack of clear/direct communication and largely avoid stepping on one another's toes. Each partner somehow thinks they are the best and don't have same practices with one another. If you have two partners on one job with differing and unresolved opinions - following one means offending the other (and yes its your fault). Working for different partners can make a difference between heaven and hell. Its all about luck of the draw.
Big4 culture? More like Big4 vultures.
10. The CLIENTS
We are expected to backflip and turn around on almost impossible timelines. Managers can try to book you for 3 months on a job, but it does not help if the client take 2.5 months to reply and then suddenly 3 months of work is squeezed into 0.5 months. Extension of project is not likely as you would have been pre-booked for your next assignment before the current one even ends.
If you get competent clients, they're most likely to be very rude and demanding. If you get nice clients, they're most likely not technically strong and basically you do the work and you check your own work. If you get incompetent and rude clients (yes they exist), then somehow it also falls on you and your manager to convince the partner that the client is shit (but you still do the work and check your own work anyway).
Nice and competent clients? Strike toto might be easier.
Baseline:
Don't join big4 if you value your life.
Don't join big4 if you value your health.
Don't join big4 "for the money" - here dont have.
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Bonus point: Employees of all level (including immediate family members) are subject to internal audit checks and FINED WITH PENALTIES (that they auto-deduct from your pay because for once they very helpful) if found for late updates to investment records, or holding onto restricted shares... Our pay is already so shit and we're not even allowed to freely invest??
Bob queens. I have chin/jaw bob length that takes forever to dry and c-curl it section by section because I have thick hair.
Unfortunately I have to keep my bob so I have been using my Dyson to dry and using Unix (mid size straightener - it’s really good, a Korean brand. Most girls I know uses this.)
However my hair tends to dry and stick outwards after drying so I have to use the straightener to keep that c curl nicely.
Recently I saw Stryv airsleek where it allows u to dry and straight while drying. I wonder if I can use it to dry and c curl it?
What do you think? Is there even a product that dries and straight it? I just need a decent tucked in curled in. Price is not an issue because I want to invest in a long term.
I have naturally thick Asian hair cut into a chin-length bob. After washing, my hair dries with the ends sticking out in different directions, so every morning I have to section it into many small pieces and use a flat iron to create a neat inward C-curl for work.
I’m looking for one tool that can ideally:
• Dry my hair
• Smooth and straighten it
• Create an inward C-curl on a short bob
The C-curl is the most important part because I need it to look polished all day.
From your professional experience, which tool would you recommend? Have you tried tools like the Dyson Airstrait, ghd Duet Style, STRYV AirSleek, or anything else that works especially well for thick, short bobs?
I have been using Dyson to dry and a transitioned hair straighteners (Unix’s) to c curl it.
I’d really appreciate your honest opinion, even if it’s not one of those brands. Thank you!
Bob queens. I have chin/jaw bob length that takes forever to dry and c-curl it section by section because I have thick hair.
Unfortunately I have to keep my bob so I have been using my Dyson to dry and using Unix (mid size straightener - it’s really good, a Korean brand. Most girls I know uses this.)
However my hair tends to dry and stick outwards after drying so I have to use the straightener to keep that c curl nicely.
Recently I saw Stryv airsleek where it allows u to dry and straight while drying. I wonder if I can use it to dry and c curl it?
What do you think? Is there even a product that dries and straight it? I just need a decent tucked in curled in. Price is not an issue because I want to invest in a long term.